The Canog
by cheesywomble
Summary: When Merlin and Arthur are out hunting they come across a human/canine. They decide to keep her and find out they are part canine also.
1. Discovering an Abandoned Puppy

It was another boring afternoon for Merlin, trailing behind Arthur in the forest while he searched for an animal to shoot down. It was nearly going to turn dark and Merlin worried for they had never been out so late before. If they were not careful anything could happen. Of course, Arthur was being his usual self and not giving a damn about their safety, only determined to bring home a catch to impress his father. Merlin sighed loudly and recieved a deathly glare from Arthur.

"Will you be quiet!" The young prince hissed. "I think I hear something."

Merlin scanned the area. He could not sense a thing. The only things he could see were the towering trees and thick bushes.

"Arthur there is nothing he-" He was cut off by the sound of leaves rustling. He and Arthur shared a look momentarily and waited. The sound came again, only this time it was much closer.

Arthur held up his hand, a gesture for Merlin to stay put, and he proceeded to investigate. He stepped towards a bush just a few metres away from him and drew his sword. Merlin unconciously moved closer in case Arthur needed help. All of a sudden the bush shuffled around. Arthur acted fast and slashed his sword downwards, slicing a layer of leaves away. What they found was rather unexpected.

A young girl, who appeared to be in her teenage years, was cowering behind the bush. Her blonde hair was in dissaray and her skin was covered in splotches of dirt. She wore a raggy shirt, worn in places, and little shorts, obviously ripped trousers. Her feet were bare. But what drew the most attention was the bleeding gash on her side. Merlin could sense that there was something not normal about this girl and felt a pang of sorrow for the girl.

Arthur seemed to be in the same train of thought. He didn't recognise her. She was not from Camelot. But where did she come from? And why was she out in the forest on her own?

"What is your name?" Arthur crouched down to her level, putting his sword away as to not scare the girl more than she obviously was.

Merlin approached slowly and watched as the girl shook violently with eyes wide open. Her lips moved as if she was trying to speak but nothing came out. When Merlin crouched next to Arthur he tried a different question, "Can you tell us your name? We won't hurt you."

Once again, the girl tried to answer but could not. Merlin examined her, desperately trying to figure out what was different with this girl. He could sense that she was not entirely human, but not a sorceress. Then what? He looked her over once more, picturing all of the creatures he had read about before. That was when he noticed the faint marking on her wrist in the shape of a fang. That's it!

"Arthur, she can't speak." Merlin turned to face the prince who seemed rather concerned for the girl.

"Thank you for informing me, Merlin." Arthur huffed sarcastically. "Anything else you would like to add?"

Merlin shook his head, "No you understand! I've read about her kind."

"Her kind?" Arthur look shocked. "I know she probably doesn't look her best at the moment but you have to admit that that comment was low, even for you."

Merlin groaned, "No! She's not human. She's a canog."

Arthur raised his eyebrows, "A canog? What the hell is a canog?" He turned his gaze back onto the bleeding 'canog'.

"It's like a part-human part-canine. See the little mark on her wrist...that's how you know. They live in the wild. Although, they can all come in different sorts. For example, this girl only seems to be a pup, and probaby acts more canine than human."

Arthur nodded and tried to reach out to the pup, "Hey girl, I just want to see your wound." He spoke in a soothing tone but the pup continued to cower away.

Merlin caugt a glimpse of a bracelet on her wrist. Narrowing his eyes he made out the word carved into it. Leanne. Was that her name?

"Leanne? Is that you name?" Merlin crawled closer. The pup appeared to have become more interested at the sound of her name and scooted towards them again. After a while she nodded.

Arthur smiled, "Leanne? Are you alone?" Another nod from her. "Do you have any family?" She shook her head sadly.

Arthur looked up to see Merlin with a massive grin plastered to his face, "Can we keep her, Arthur? Please?"

"Merlin." Arthur grumbled "We can't just take her back to the castle."

"Be we can't leave her here all alone. She's just puppy. And she's injured! She could bleed to death!" As if to prove his point, Merlin gently pulled Leanne onto his lap and hugged her closely. The both of them giving Arthur the puppy dog look.

Rubbing his now aching forehead, Arthur stood up, "Fine. But if she breaks anything you're getting the blame!"

That seemed to be enough for Merlin. He cradled the puppy to his chest and softly cooed at her. Arthur removed his cape and helped Merlin to wrap it around her. Mere moments after mounting their horses the puppy was asleep, snuggled under Merlin's chin.


	2. Bringing The Puppy Home

Arriving back into Camelot was a rather awkward experience for Merlin and Arthur. It didn't help that the young prince had come back with nothing to brag to his father about, but what was worse was the fact that nearly every person outside had stopped to watch them. Obviously Leanne was attracting more attention than they expected.

Merlin attempted to gather her into his chest more than she already was, hiding her from the gazes of the curious villagers. Arthur just stared straight ahead, blaming the embarrassment on Merlin in his head. When they got to the castle Merlin carefully de-mounted the horse and staggered behind Arthur who was marching full-speed into the castle.

"Why so grumpy?" Merlin joked, "Did you want to hold the baby canog instead?"

"Shut up, Merlin!" Merlin's smile instantly dropped. "Those people probably thought I shot her down!"

"Why would they think that?" Leanne gave a small noise in the back of her throat.

The prince sighed, "Look at her. She's bleeding and deadly white. And it just so happens that I have been out hunting and come back with her."

"Ah, I see. Well, I'm sure we can convince everyone later." Merlin felt Leanne shift in his arms and looked down. Her eyes were now open and were observing the area around her. Anyone could clearly tell she was weak.

"Hey girl. How are you doing, huh?" Merlin crooned as the girl snuggled further into him. "Don't worry. We'll fix you up soon."

Arthur gave her a little pat on the head, "If my father lets her stay."

Merlin's head shot up at this, "If?"

They had already reached the main hall and Arthur strolled towards the throne where the king sat.

"Ah, welcome back, Arthur. I trust your hunting went well?" Uther stood to greet his son.

Arthur rubbed the back of neck nervously, "Well the thing is..." He motioned for Merlin to come towards them.

Uther's face held nothing but shock when he took in the sight before him. "What on earth is the meaning of this?"

Arthur went to stand next to Merlin, who held Leanne protectively from Uther. "We found her in the forest, father. She's been abandoned and she's been injured."

Uther loomed over Merlin and glared at Leanne, "Why were you living in the forest? Where do you come from?" Leanne could only shake her head. "Speak girl!"

Leanne whined loudly and hid her face under Merlin's chin. Arthur bounced in front of them, "She can't speak, father. You see, she's...a...canog."

Uther frowned and stepped back, "And, pray tell, what is a canog?"

Arthur looked to Merlin for some help. He moved forward, "A canog is a part human, part canine, Sire. Leanne here is only a puppy. They can read and understand us but they cannot speak, Sire."

Uther sent another glare towards the pup and faced his son, "And why did you bring this creature here?"

"We wanted your permission to keep her."

Uther's face turned red, "Keep her! Why would you want to keep some useless beast in the castle!"

Leanne let out a tiny growl only Merlin could hear. Arthur groaned loudly, "Father, she is no threat to anyone. You see her yourself. She's more scared than anything. Merlin and I can look after her."

Uther glanced between the two men and after what seemed like hours the king finally spoke, "You may keep her as long as she stays out of the way and out of my sight."

Both men thanked him and headed back to Arthur's chambers with a shaking and bleeding pup in tow.


	3. Famous Last Words

Trying to tend to Leanne's wound was harder than Merlin or Arthur thought. Arthur sat on the end of his bed with Leanne sitting on his lap. She knew there was going to be pain involved so she fought and growled as much as she could, with teeth growing in length and her eyes turning dangerously dark.

"Merlin, will you please hurry up!" Arthur was attempting to avoid the little snaps that Leanne was aiming at his hands.

Merlin was reading a dusty, old book, surrounded by bowls and jars. "Just a moment. I want to make sure I give her the right thing." He quickly glanced one last time at the page and gathered some items from the table.

"Finally." Arthur complained. "For being so young she can certainly put up a fight."

Merlin laughed at the sight of Leanne giving a sharp bite to Arthur's arm. "Prince of Camelot can't even hold down a girl."

Before Arthur could make a snide remark in return Leanne focussed her snarling on Merlin. Avoiding her swats he decided to do this as fast as he could. It would make it easier for everyone. "Arthur could you keep her shirt out of the way?" Arthur nodded and struggled to grip Leanne's shirt and keep her in place. Merlin gently placed a wet cloth onto her ribs and wiped away the blood. Leanne twisted and whimpered from the pain but the men tried to ignore it the best they could.

Merlin placed the cloth back into the water bowl and examined Leanne's side. "Okay, the good news is that nothing is broken."

Arthur scooted Leanne into a more comfortable position, "And the bad news?"

"It will hurt for a while. The ribs are bruised very badly." He carefully traced around the blue and purple blotches. Luckily, while Merlin bandaged Leanne up she had calmed down, retreating into Arthur's grasp. "All done."

Arthur was just about to shift Leanne onto the bed when all of a sudden she vanished. Instead there was a little ball of blonde fur curled up in his lap. Neither of them spoke for a while, wondering what just happened.

Arthur was the first to speak. "Did-did she just...?"

Merlin nodded with wide eyes, "I think so." He moved forward to touch the fur ball. He smoothed his hand down the length and a small pup uncurled from its position. "Aww."

Arthur still looked gobsmacked, "No one must know about this. My father already knows she is part canine but he cannot find out she has magic!" The pup flinched at his raised voice and scampered to the other end of the bed against the pillows. The little bandages still wrapped around her ribs.

Merlin huffed and crawled over next to her, "Look what you did."

Arthur crossed his arms and moved up to join them, "Well, she gave me a bit of a shock too."

Merlin cradled the shaking pup to his chest and glanced to Arthur, "Out of all the people in the world, we end up looking after a canog."

Arthur nodded and hovered over Leanne, ruffling the fur of her chest. "I'm sure we can handle her. How much trouble could she be? She seems behaved enough."

"Famous last words." Merlin handed the pup to Arthur and he accepted her happily.

"I wonder why she trusts us so much?" Leanne let out a massive yawn. "It's not as if she's seen us before."

Merlin thought for a moment, "Well, I think I remember the book saying something about them having connections. I'll look it up later."

That was when Leanne changed back into human form with a cheery smile on her face.


	4. Connections

Arthur and Merlin sat together at the table, searching through the dozens of books piled up. Leanne was sprawled out on Arthur's bed, mumbling softly in her sleep. All morning they had been trying to find out more information on Canogs. Most of the books they had read explained the same things over and over.

Arthur plonked the dusty, old book he had been reading on the table, causing a dust cloud to choke Merlin as it went, "This is useless. We're wasting our time studying all of these books. Everything is basically repeated."

Merlin wiped some of the dust away from his eyes and began to scroll on a piece of parchment, "Well it's better than nothing isn't it?"

"I don't see why we can't just ask Leanne about Canogs. " Arthur glanced over towards the bed.

"She's only a pup." Merlin scowled. "She probably understands no more than we do."

So far they had both discovered that canogs are rather shy and secretive creatures who prefer staying out the way from humans. That explains why the pair had found Leanne hiding in the bushes. Canogs are mainly found in packs, not being able to live without the love and affection of others. Leanne was lucky Merlin and Arthur took her in, otherwise she could have died with the lack of these.

"Oh, this is interesting." Merlin rapidly scribbled something down on the parchment.

"What?" Arthur leaned closer.

Feeling Arthur's breath on his neck, Merlin suddenly felt an overwhelming pull as if he needed to touch Arthur. Ignoring the odd feeling he nudged the book over for Arthur to see, "It says here that Canogs stop ageing at some point in their lives. Each Canog is different so they can stop at different ages. It also says that we can tell they have stopped if they have a mark on their body. A mark in the shape of a fang."

Arthur leaned back in his chair, "Leanne has that mark."

Merlin nodded, "I thought it only meant she was a Canog. Guess I was wrong."

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of shuffling and a groan. Looking towards the bed they both found Leanne shifting forward, seeming reluctant to go near them. Her arm was wrapped protectively around her ribs, where Merlin had placed the bandages. Her head was hung low and a hint of sadness was visible in her eyes.

Merlin grinned and slowly got up, coaxing Leanne to them with his hands, "C'mon, girl. It's alright."

Leanne examined the two of them for a moment, not knowing what to do. But eventually after a great deal of encouragement from Merlin she carefully paced forward, trembling slightly with fear.

Arthur retrieved a blanket from one of the chairs and stepped next to Leanne, attempting not to spook her. He tenderly wrapped it around her fragile body while Merlin held her soothingly to his chest.

"Don't be scared." Arthur cooed as he stroked her head. "We won't hurt you."

Leanne gradually relaxed into their petting and allowed Merlin to lift her into his lap. She still shook a great deal but unexpectedly let out a low, rumbling growl. The men snatched their hands away quickly before she could attack them.

Leanne did nothing but give them helpless glances.

Arthur reluctantly placed his hand back on her stomach and pleasantly stroked with his fingers. Leanne let out another rumble and the shaking halted.

"She likes it." Merlin smiled. "Must be the need for affection kicking in. She probably craves it more than other Canogs since she's a pup."

Arthur thought for a moment and then cast his gaze up to Merlin, "She shouldn't need us giving her the affection though. Where is her pack?"

"I know, I know." Merlin nuzzled into Leanne's hair and huffed.

Arthur scooted closer to the two of them and asked Leanne, "Where is you pack, huh? Your parents?"

This seemed to have struck a nerve in Leanne. She sagged in Merlin's arms, appearing lifeless. Her lips wobbled, letting out tiny whimpers.

That was when Merlin and Arthur all of a sudden got a strange vision.

There was a massive group of people gathered in the woods. Some eating, some sleeping. Younger children playing. Canogs. Arthur and Merlin could see Leanne sitting against a log with who looked to be her parents. Everybody was minding their own business when suddenly a group of men, humans, charged amongst them. Without any warning they chased and slaughtered everyone in sight. Screams filling the air and the stench of blood invading their noses. Within small minutes all of the canogs were dead, except for Leanne. Merlin and Arthur could see her vanishing into the woods, escaping the evil men.

They were brought out of the vision, nearly toppling over from the dizziness. Both men's heads snapped to face Leanne, who cowered under the blanket, sniffling.

The prince and his manservant had a sudden urge to protect the girl in front of them, no matter what. Almost as if they were connected.


End file.
